Official 2023 WWE Payback Review & Reactions

This is w w E Superstar Drew McIntire, and you're listening to the w
w E podcast God stop the show but one that everybody wants me God Step
three sixteen says, just clift your ass is my art. You're gonna acknowledge
me. All right, let's talk about payback that occurred and last night.
And I know I'm a bit late to the party here, a bit late
to the review party, but uh, you know, sometimes sleep in life
get the better of you, and uh yeah, it almost got the better
of me tonight. I gotta say. It's just, uh, sometimes you're
just laying there and you're like, man, you know, I could just
go to sleep, but I'm not. I'm here. I'm here to talk
to you guys, in here to give my thoughts and honestly, an event
a plee that's as expected and has been the trend more often than not with
this Triple H regime coming out of the Plee. There aren't a lot of
people I'm hearing that felt the pelle didn't live up to expectations at the bare
minimum, much less exceed them. Right, most people, and I am
in that camp, felt like the pay per view pe did exceed expectations from
a wrestling standpoint in. And I think the reason is, as I thought
about this, it's like, why why don't we come out of these events
where we are just we come out of it going wow, that's way better
than I thought. And there's a couple of people, you could a couple
of parties you could point out. It's the creative and the inability or I
guess the lack of ability to be able to build a program properly so that
you go into the pl you're super excited about it and then you know,
you get what is expected. I think it's I don't know if it's the
ineptitude of some of the storylines and development of storylines and the execution of storylines
going into an event. I think it just comes down to this. When
talent have enough time in the ring to tell the story they want to tell,
they exceed the expectations beyond what was given to them in a storyline.
Meaning they are real professional wrestlers, they are athletes. They can deliver above
and beyond what is expected of them, and given enough time, they will
be able to tell a great story. And that's what we got more often
than not, not all of it, but more often than not, we
got we got matches that over delivered. I thought, and you know,
let me just say this about about John Cena because I know that a lot
of us are excited these bam I'm in that camp, right, we should
all at this point in John's career be appreciative and realize that every time you
see John Cena in the ring, it's very very limited, right, You're
you're you are going to see the last of John Cena in our lifetime.
It's probably in the next couple of years where I'll have his final match in
that So seeing John Cen in the ring is a rarity and we need to
appreciate, is what my point is. But that's that's the good stuff.
But I don't like le John Cena when he comes back, is this kind
of peeking behind the curtain attitude where he said I think he said it on
SmackDown, where you know, no matter what I'm scheduled to do, I'm
gonna come out here and give back to you guys. It's like, dude,
what what do you mean what you're scheduled to do? I mean,
I don't need to hear that crap. It's it's almost like he does this
now and as like a wink and a nod kind of he's not half assing
it. But when he gets into comedy John Cina mode, it's the absolute
worst version of his character. And I know that John is being introduced now,
even by Samantha Irvin, as the greatest of all time John. Okay,
First of all, it's a very subjective label to put on somebody.
I know that they. You know, Michael Cole has been you know,
been been spewing that out of his mouth for several years, and you know
Samantha Irvin and Irving and other announcers are now going to introduce him as such.
That's a subjective thing. It's not for WI to decide. That's for
the fans to decide. And I'm not being I'm not going to be told
that someone's the greatest of all time because there's so many things that is that
are subjective about that statement, Like how do you define great? Everyone's definition
is different. What does it mean? Longevity, title, victories, ticket
sales, what does it mean? Right? Great means different things to different
people. So for great, the greatest of all time, according to who
who bestowed this upon him? He's I think you'd argue inarguably one of I
don't care if they changed it to one of. But don't tell me he's
the greatest of all time. They haven't done that with anybody. When when
is the last time they actually told us who is the greatest of all time?
They didn't even deal with the rock with Austin. Nobody so anyway.
But putting that narrative aside, John Cena as a comedy character when he gets
into comedy, as great as he is on the microphone and as as great
of a storyteller he is in the ring, and he is when he goes
into comedy boat trying to play an announcer or play an interviewer backstage. He's
got this the bow tie on. All that's stuff. Man, give it
a rest. It's not funny. I don't know where he that's the one
thing. As self aware as he is and all the social intelligence that he
has, he's not aware enough where wwe isn't aware enough to see it's not
funny at all. It's cringe. As the kids would say, I can't
even watch. It's like watching a cartoon. The best version of John Cena
is serious. John cena or at least neutral. I don't mean him going
into comedy mode. It's the worst I've hated that since day one. This
isn't a recent thing, so I wanted to get that off my chest.
All that said, I still enjoy John Back. I just would leave the
comedy in its grave and bury it all right, But starting off with Lita
or Alita, Oh my god. I actually did want Leda in in this
match. I thought you would appear towards the end of match specifically, but
it was Tris Stratus versus Becky Lynch in a steel cage, and it's so
funny. You know, a lot of us, including myself, going into
this match, looked at this and said, we're ready for this to be
over. My god, can this be over? This has been a really
bad build. But this is a perfect example of what I talked about in
the open of the show. The story was subpar. It wasn't awful,
but it was subpar. It's strung out a little long. But interestingly,
when you get the wrestlers inside the ring, these women delivered and delivered in
a massive way, and it shows you that when things are left to their
own devices and they don't have to worry about doing whatever creative needs them to
do that night, or whatever it is. They can just go in the
ring and tell their own story. It's amazing how quickly the narrative can turn
from get this over with too oh man? I actually wouldn't mind another match
now they aren't going to. I think it's a great way to end this
program. I think this is going to be a fun adventure for Trish to
see where she lands. I don't know if she's done done. She did
have a pretty big lump on her head if you saw some of the postmatch
video and pictures, and she looked like she took a pretty good whack to
the head. And both women absolutely killed it in this match. I have
nothing but the utmost respect for both women. Trish overachieved. This might have
been one of Trish's best matches ever. Same with Becky. Now Becky has
a little bit more of a resume behind her than Trish. But this was
really well done. And you know what, even the promo video that they
put together well, very scripted, with on them saying the exact same things
paralleling each other in the video. It still worked and the execution was just
brilliant. The bumps they took off the top, the superplex that Trish did
not have to take, that she took off the top of the cage,
all of that, the face bumps on the cage and all of it.
They just just brilliant. I mean, I don't have much much criticism in
this match. You know, the right person won, though, Becky Lynch
getting the victory over Tris Stratis was the right call. You couldn't have another
way. And then having Zoe Stark come out and you know, try to
ruin the match for for for Becky, I thought to myself, Okay,
leta cue your music. I guess we Lida has just been completely pushed out
of the picture here, but it would have been a perfect time for her
to come out and even the odds, but Trish was able to or rather
Becky was able to fight off both women man handle slam Zoe eventually, you
know, get a man handle slam off of the top rope from from Becky
to Trish and one two three, And then after the match, Zoe gets
slapped by Trish and she gets a Z three sixty and good night the lights
for Trish. She's out and maybe that's where she sustained her bump up on
her head. I would imagine that's a dangerous move. But Zoe Stark,
you know, Zoe Stark is an absolute start in the making. We know
this, but none bigger than the I think the moment last night where she's
breaking off from Trish, she's doing her own thing, you'd imagine that's a
baby face turned. And then the whole thank you Trish stuff after that was
caught on camera where people are just, you know, really truly saying thank
you Trish, which they should. You know, this is not just the
gimmick, it's true. So hats off to both women who absolutely it was
a more than more than anyone could have expected. And to be honest,
it was a smart positioning by w w WE to put this match on first
because they have the crowd at their most, you know, their highest level
of energy. They're fresh, they're ready to go, and with WWB knowing
that the fans aren't exactly invested in this story, they didn't want to risk
this match being deeper into the night where people are tired, they're ready to
go home, and they're like, yeah, who cares about this program anyway?
Very smart and ww's part and the women completely delivered. Next up the
miss An l A Night with John Cena as a special guest referee. You
know this much this match, I you know, you would think that there
would be a lot of discussion about this match. There really isn't. John
Cena being the special guest referee didn't really need to happen. It was just
something for John to do other than just come out and cut a single promo
and leave. He was fine as a special guest referee. Both men got
in his face a couple of times, and it was a technically sound,
perfectly executed match for what they're trying to accomplish. Of course, kickouts of
finishes was the order of the night. My god. I think every nearly
every match had a kick out of a finish which needs to just stop as
a whole needs to just stop. But this match was designed to further LA
Night. You know, no more screwing around with well, we're going to
push him by not looking like we're pushing him. Even Michael Cole said,
eventually you got to get some wins, and that's exactly right, you know.
And I was thinking that the Battle Royal victory of La Night last month
could have been a foreshadowing to a Royal Rumble victory in January. We'll see,
right, La Knight is already a heavy favorite to win the Rumble,
We'll see. But this match was what it needed to be. We got
the right man winning La Night. There's nowhere again, noere screwing around or
funny business with the booking. Let's just go right. And this was This
was exactly what it needed to be. It wasn't anything more, it wasn't
anything less. The only interesting tidbit moving forward was La Knight getting in the
face of John Cena on stage on the top of the stage. That ended
in a handshake and I guess a stamp of approval by John Cena, and
and that was it. A La Knight gets a massive pop from the crowd
of course on his entrance and his victory and the La Night, yeah is
it is so over. It's just it's fun to watch right now. This
La Knight movement has sparked a lot of passion back in fans and he is
selling a boatload of T shirts. I may even pick one up. So
it's just a lot of fun that this is a It wasn't a risky move.
It wasn't a bad move. This was just a kind of a run
of the mill, nice next step for La Night. So we'll see what
happens. I mean, maybe he faces John Cena, maybe he doesn't.
John seen has got a lot of smackdowns left. Ran around Halloween is when
he's done on SmackDown, So we shall see. All right, One more
thing I want to talk about before I continue with payback. Payback is the
whole Phil Brooks cum Punk firing by Tony Kahn. Just quickly comment on it.
Good for Tony Khan, Good for Tony Khan. Okay, I have
no sympathy, as Dean Ambrose or John Moxley put it on. Was a
collision that he has no sympathy for cm Punk and he called him weak minded,
you know, a weak spirited all that. I mean, he hammered
Sampunk and I mean, I'm not going to go that far, but what
I will say, just from a professional standpoint, he is not a professional
in any sense of the word. He may know how to be a professional
wrestler in the ring. I'm not saying he's trying to intentionally hurt guys.
That may be the only spot that he's a professional, is knowing how to
cut a promo, he knows how to wrestle in the ring, But from
a backstage and PR perspective, this guy is a disaster waiting to happen.
And as Rollins even put it in a promo, not a promo, an
actual real life interview, he called sham Punk a cancer and to stay the
hell away from w w E. And as much as you guys out there,
the collective, you who may want sham Punk back, I'd be very
weary, very weary if I'm WWE and there's a push or a conversation being
had of well maybe we should bring him back. Hell, you know,
he got fired from AW, But why would we take a guy that AW
just fired for being completely unprofessional and getting in a fight with a guy backstage,
and then not just that single incident, but embarrassing the company in a
post press conference last year and eating a cheeseburger with Tony Kahn and running down
the business and seeing he hates it here in a separate interview, but like
all this stuff, he embarrasses the company, gets in fights. He I
mean, it's just he's a he kind of is a cancer in a way
he just kind of spreads negativity and shadow over the company. And so again,
this is only the things that we know as fans. I know there's
things behind the scenes that Philip Brooks would probably have his own version of the
story. There are two sides to every story. I get that, but
does there need to be another side to the story that can put that can
really absolve see him punk from all of these events. I mean, we
saw them play out in front of our eyes. You know, the backstage
stuff we you know, we we didn't see, but the stuff even on
camera that we saw were like, Dude, I would not want this guy
in my company. I know the fans may pop for it, sell a
couple of T shirts, I get it, But do you want a guy
in your company that's going to just create waves, immediately have an attitude of
you know, I'm bigger than the company. I don't need to be here.
I hate it here, screw pro wrestling, all this like he's a
child. The dude is still a child. And I was, you know
what, I was the first one to be excited whence he came back to
AW came back to pro wrestling, No doubt, one of the biggest pops
in pro wrestling history. But that doesn't mean I can't change my opinion.
I did feel that way, but after these events, I have completely changed
my outlook on cm Punk. And not that not his ability, but his
motives are very much about cmpunk. I know we have a lot of cmpunk
supporters, a lot of you guys want to see him in w E I
don't maybe a Hall of Fame bid sure, I think he's deserving. I
mean, hell that, the bar for getting into the Hall of Fame these
days is not exactly sky high. But he's deserving, I believe. But
I would not want a guy like that in my company, despite the fan
base wanting it. I would say, hell no, So we'll see.
We'll see if w w E K maybe they don't. I would imagine doing
it right away would also look really bad. You know, all right,
Let's get to Ray Mosterio Austin Theory. The match was fine. It's good.
Having Ray Mosterio beat Austin Theory was the right move. Having Austin Theory
lose the way he did to Ray also gives him a bit of an out.
It wasn't just a clean hit. My finished one two three. It
was kind of a nice sequence to end the match of you know, a
six one nine into an attempted a town down but ended up in a like
a reverse roll up. It was nice. It was a nice, smooth
finish that protected Austin Theory moving forward but allowed Ray to continue to remain champion.
I still don't think Ray's gonna have a very long run, but having
the LWA out there to celebrate with him was a lot of fun, and
an Austin Theory seething at the end was fun too. So no problems here,
you know. I It wasn't exactly a captivating match, but it did
what it needed to do. All right. Here comes the surprise of the
night, a match that, when I say it was overbooked, might be
the understatement of the year. It was so unbelievably overbooked, and normally that
would be a massive complaint, but given how it ended, it may not
be. So let's go through it. This is the tag team Championship match,
Kevin and Sammy versus Finn and Damien, one that I have been and
was flat out wrong. I said this one is a lock it up throw
out. The key retention for Sammy and Kevin, given the fact that they
were going to continue the tension between Finnan Damian at least I thought they were.
Looks like that's on the backburner for now anyway. And that the fact
that they had an India a match with the indusheer in India in September eight.
I said, for the titles, I said, there's away right,
but I was wrong. And perhaps they make it a triple threat. You
know, maybe they maybe they do an India would imagine they do that.
But I was completely wrong. And uh, you know, credit to everyone
involved here. This was, as Michael Cole put it, a car crash
that sounds like a knock. It's not. This was. If you want
to put Terry Funk's name on this, you could have. I know,
they builded a steel City street fight and we had Kevin and Sammy and the
you know, the Penguins. The Penguins, Yeah, not the Steelers.
I know that. Michael Cole called it the Steelers. It's not the hockey
team there, the local hocketeam the Penguins in their outfits which must have killed
them. As Canadians. No one's pointing this out as Canadians. I'm not
a Canadian, but I you know, I know a few, and hockey
is massive there. It's it's for a lot of people. It's livelihood,
it's life. It's the sport that is, it's dominant in Canada. I
don't think that's that's a fair statement. So you know, to see Kevin
and Sammy in an opposing team's uniform, if I'm a Canadian, I'm going
wait, wait, whoa wa wa whoa? You know, like you can't
that's like the one unpardonable sin. I would imagine. I'm not a big
hockey fan, but I'd like to ask a Canadian you know that supports Kevin
and Sammy when you saw that, did you care that much? Did you
know it was just pandering? But if it was pandering, was it worth
the cost of kind of betraying your country's team of the Montreal Canadians. I
don't know. So anyway, this match was unbelievably physical, unbelievably physical and
having so many run ins. I mean, just when you think it's over
and that's the where you thought I was gonna say that, well it's overbooked.
It's a knock, it's not. And this is a rare case,
because there were so many nice false finishes where I thought Kevin and Sam we
were gonna win, and they didn't because of jay Z McDonough who got his
ass kicked. And then Ria Ripley came out, and of course no one
can retaliate against her because she's got this magical shield of invisibility called being a
woman. And she speared Kevin owns, which I still don't like. Okay,
not putting aside the non retaliation, which is ridiculous. You have Ria
Ripley, who's a strong woman, but you have a re Ripley going against
or spearing a guy that went against Stone Colt Steve Austen in the main event
of WrestleMania thirty eight taking massive bumps for Ria Ripley. I'm sorry, I
love Ria, I love Kevin. This dynamic is ridiculous anyway, and no
one else is talking about this. Everyone ignores it. I'll continue to pound
the drum until you guys are hearing me tired of hearing me talk about it.
But all right, but Ria Ripley ends up spearing Kevin through a barricade.
You know, of course, j D mc donna doing his part to
cause a cause a near fall or causing a pinfall to be broken up.
And also Dominic who interfered multiple times and it took an army to take down
Kevin and Sammy. And also how come we now talk about the not just
the busted open Crimson mask of Kevin, which was just I love seeing that
once in a while, but also the swanton bomb off of that, off
of that that that I don't know, the upper seating area onto a table
through dom was. I mean, I felt that. I think I'm gonna
wake up bruise tomorrow morning. I mean, I just thinking about it makes
me hurt. You could see the pain in Kevin's eyes, I mean,
yikes. So it's because I think he didn't land it perfectly. He landed
it about eighty percent perfectly where his his backside took a little bit too big
of a bump, and he didn't catch enough of his fall on dom So
he was off by about three four inches if you want to, you know,
you know, of course, I'm not a pro wrestler, but I've
seen enough swanton bombs to know when it's landed perfectly and when it's not.
I'm not knocking Kevin at all. I mean it's just I've just felt that
bump. I'm like, oh my god, I could see this actually putting
up the X sign that this match, if it wasn't lable to steal City
street fight, is worthy of a Terry Funk street fight. You know,
if you wanted to put his name on it, that one was worth it.
The trash cans to the head, I haven't seen that in a while.
Of course, Kendo sticks that just always make their appearance. This was
brilliant. The stunner on Damian Priest that you thought it was over, just
so many great moments. This was a lot of fun, and having Kevin
and Sammy lose here was a bit shocking, but when it all came down
to it, it kind of is the right move. I felt weird about
this. I'm like, what are you kidding? This doesn't make sense.
And as I'm thinking that, I'm like, well, I see what they're
doing here. They're putting all the gold on the New Day or the New
Day, the Judgment Day, and I kind of like, also Kevin and
Sammy doing stuff other than being tag champions. I know it's only been since
April, but it hasn't exactly set the world on fire with them as champions.
The story was about them getting there, and then when they got there,
WW didn't have much for them. That's kind of a WW staple,
isn't it. A lot of times they just get guys to the mountaintop and
make them champion at WrestleMania, any championship other than the top one usually,
and then they don't know what the hell to do with them. This is
true of the Tag Championships, the Intercontinental Championship, US Championship. I mean,
look what they've done. Times they just get them and then then they
kind of put their feet up after Wrestlemanian go huh, all right, well
that's done, and then you know, four months goes by and they're like,
oh crap, we gotta do something with them. It feels like they
do that with a few guys every single WrestleMania season post WrestleMania season. So
well, anyway, Kevin and Samu are no longer tag champions, Finn and
Damien have been resolidified as friends or coherts. In the Judgment day, everything
seems all all as well, and then of course we Ripley has her match.
We'll get to that in a minute, but hats off to all of
these men. Everyone hit their spots and I enjoyed it. And it's going
to be fun to see the judgment day Monday Night when they come out and
brag, because you know what this sets up. It sets up baby faces
to work together or big returns. So all right, let's move on.
We have of Cody Rhodes on the Grayson Waller effect. All right, so
Waller suggested Rhodes needed the boost from being on the show the rub boy there.
Thank god, we know what that means. Thank you, Cody.
This led to Rhodes to say that everyone expects things to play out where Waller
says something that bothers roads and they brawl and hits a cross roads. So
Cody is coming out there and talking about what everyone expects to happen, which
is true, but boy does he just needs to get to the damn points
sometimes. He did say, though, that he instead could subvert expectations before
telling Waller that instead of using the stage, he would instead use the stage
to make an announcement, and Rhodes said he used whatever political pull or credit
he had to get someone added as the newest member of the Monday At Raw
roster Jusso and he ended up coming out and Waller was insulting. He got
a superkick for his trouble. And it's interesting too because I don't dislike this,
and we have jus getting his own music. I like keeping Jimmy and
Jay separate. This makes sense to me for a couple of reasons. I
know people are like, well, what about what Jimmy doesn't he want to
follow up with Jimmy us No, we need to move on from that story
right now. Plus, I really don't think there's a large interest in seeing
Jimmy versus Jay. I just don't. And it makes the bloodline split as
far as they can split before they come back together for a massive baby Face
reunion twenty twenty five maybe twenty twenty six. So that's also what it's setting
up for, even if that's not the purpose of doing this. It does
so Juso is back, he got a massive reaction, and you know it's
gonna be I'd imagine Jay versus Grayson Waller for his first program that will inevitably
end with Jay Usso getting the victor. I mean, just no two ways
about it. So Grayson Waller, you might as well just put another l
in his column. I can't tell you the last time Grayson Waller won a
match on the main roster. I don't know if he has has he so
he's working with Mega talent. I get that, which does soften these losses.
But still so the only so, the only other thing. You guys
aren't gonna comment on this with Cody. So suddenly Cody has political stroke.
He's been back for like a year and a half. He cashed in his
chips for what to bring back? Jay? How does this benefit him?
I don't understand this movie. I know it's supposed to continue to endear the
fans to Cody, but all of a sudden, he's making matches, he's
bringing people back, He's using backstage political power to get people drafted or traded
to different brands, Like what what is? I don't know. This of
course, does not make the case for me to h and those that don't
already like Cody to make them like him. And and you know, I
really was glad that Grayson Waller cut him off when he was about to do
his so Pittsburg, what do you want to you know? And he cut
him off. I'm like, thank you, thank you, right like I
was, just because he has that stupid ass smile. It just now I
am, like I told you guys, not not that anyone cares, but
since it's my show, I get to vent a little bit. I'm completely
off the Cody Road's baby Face train gone. I jumped off, I hit
some I cut up my legs. I got some bruises from jumping off the
train. I'd do a tuck and roll, but I'm I'm I'm there,
I survived and pick me back up. When he turns, heal I'm off,
I'm out doesn't mean I'm not gonna watch what he does. I still
am interested in his character from what it does, but from me sitting there
as a fan supporting his character. I'm done his suits, to his stupid
little, sneaky smile and his arrogance that can't help but bleed through in his
vocabulary. That's it seems like he just uses big words to make him smarter.
It just I can't, I can't do it, and he's suddenly doing
all this. He had to right a wrong? Why what wrong? What
wrong? Did he have to right? What? What? What wrong?
Jay quit on his own terms? Okay, so how was that a wrong.
Jay is I'm sure more than capable of getting his job back. I
don't know he's acting like this the moral compass of raw Bro. Oh yeah,
I'm done, all right. So the Women's World Championship rear Ripley and
Raquel Rodriguez, Uh clunky. This was okay. They had their moments,
but a lot, you know, some of them. Some of the maneuvers
were not well executed. And it didn't start off well either, with a
clothes line that that that Raquel ducked and she knew that Ria was supposed to
grab her hair but she didn't yet, but she was acting like she did.
You know what I'm talking about right at the beginning. That didn't start
well. There were some clunky maneuvers throughout the match. I think a lot
of it has to do with the fact they haven't worked together on a big
stage for this long before, so I understand that. But also they have
very similar styles and sometimes it doesn't work. This one wasn't the most It
wasn't the most you know, it wasn't the most technically sound. It wasn't
exactly a Ricky Steamboat Rick Flair matchup, you know, or it just it
just wasn't and that's okay. It was a power versus power story and that's
exactly what we got. Riah Ripley retains after Rachel Rodriguez took the fall because
of who else Dom and boys, he can have Mega heat is that if
he already doesn't on Raw? My god, it's gonna be fun because you
know the judgments that are gonna open Raw. How can they not so because
they have all the gold with the exception they say all the gold, but
I guess, like the exception of like two major championships, you don't have
the World Heavyweight Championship, you don't have the Intercontinental Championship like so to say
you have all the gold, it's a bit misleading. You could say everyone's
holding gold, fine, but you don't have all of the available gold.
So let's get that right. So Ria Ripley and Raquel I would think this
program's over. There's no Live Morgan. A know, a lot of you
thought Live Morgan was going to return. She didn't, And that's okay.
I think that. You know, this was a straightforward woman versus woman minus
dom matchup, and you know what, there were some bright spots in this
match. Raquel showed her strength, but boy, the crowd was as expected,
very mild, very mild for Raquel, not really a Megan response that
I'm sure they wanted. Oh I'm Becky Lynch in her post interview was about
to say after she was asked what's next. I'm sure she was about to
say, well, there's only one thing, and then she got cut off
by Tiffany Stratton, the next women's champion. So it looks like Becky is
not going to go to Ria Ripley right away, but rather work with Tiffany
Stratton for a little while while they are in a holding pattern for Becky versus
Rhea, because eventually they'll get to that match. I don't know if it's
Survivors Series or down the line even further Rumble or something, but Becky versus
Rhea, you know, they know they have that in the cards, and
Becky Lynn versus Trisian. Tiffany Stratton is apparently going to be taking over next
so for fast Lane or maybe was it NXT No Mercy, Like that's their
next big event, all right, So let's get to Shin's get Nackamara versus
Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship. Another brilliant video package that just continues
to get better. They did a lot of anime anime like promo and I
loved it. Shin's gin Kambera is just I don't think a lot of us
realize how good he can be because he's been so irrelevant for a while.
But this match was so much fun to watch. The narrative of Seth's back
was expected, but still well done. Shin's Gaber, you know, is
just he is a guy that you're like sitting there as a fan going wait,
so w W. We didn't do anything with him from twenty eighteen till
now, and sure he was intercondinal champion. He had a few blips on
the radar, but generally he's been a forgotten entity since he made have ented
with AJ Styles and twenty eighteen the infamous low Blow and all that five years
ago. So you know, I hope that in the loss, Shintsgate continues
to be elevated. I I really was so blown away by how well this
was promoted and executed for the build that you know, I was in there
sitting there watching going, well, I mean they could put it on SHINTZK.
They did an excellent job. I think even in the most veterans of
veteran veteran fans that they put that little seeded doubt, and I bought into
it. There were a few times, you know, and Seth Rollins barely
escaping. What I really loved was the sell by Shinskay. I don't know
if anyone caught it. The cell by Shinska after Rollins hit the stomp,
that cell where you saw his eyes rolling back of his head. It was
just it was brilliant. I know it's a small thing, very small,
but it was effective. I've never seen anyone do that. Usually they just
closed their eyes like they're knocked out. Shinsky actually had his eyes roll back
of his head, and I was like, that's so, that's so effective.
I loved it. And then having Seth even after hitting the stomp,
You're wondering, well, he's he has didn't immediately cover Maybe maybe you know
Shinsky is gonna kick out and he didn't. But it was so. I
wouldn't mind seeing them go round two here. I wouldn't mind seeing them go
at at fast lane. I really wouldn't. This was just great and it
was they have more chemistry than I thought they would, and as one one
reviewer puts it, it was quote a good mix of old school and modern
storytelling. The match featured a classic approach of working over a specific body part
before Rollins was able to find a way to win and retain his title.
And what Shinsky could say is, you didn't beat me, you escaped me.
And I took that from and often not talked about match of Samoa Joe
versus brock Lesner at Great Balls of Fire back in on I don't know what
it was, twenty seventeen, something like that might have been. I'm probably
botching the time frame here, but brock les versus Samoa Joe a match that
was severely underrated. That's what he said to brock Brocky didn't beat me,
you escaped me. And that's what Sin could say to Rollins in his next
promo video. If they want to continue this, I don't know, but
this was great. This was This is a lot of fun to watch,
and I have absolutely no complaints about this at all. This was the right
guy winning. But you're looking at it's thinking, well, even if Shinsky
won, is it really the worst thing in the world. You know,
Shinsky has tripled his relevance in a matter of like two weeks, all with
just amazingly being able to communicate via promo. I don't care if it's pre
produced backstage with video effects and subtitles. I don't care how it's done.
I don't care that methodology we're using. I care that it's effective. And
it worked, and boy did it so that this was again a lot of
fun and no big returns, no massive, you know, no Randy Orton,
you know, no, no Biggie. So those two continue to flood
out there in the ether, and and we'll have to see, we'll have
to see what comes next with fast Lane, because after fast Lane, guys,
kind of an apropone name, we are in the fast Lane to WrestleMania
season because fast Lane is what is it, October, early October or something
like that. About a month after that we get into Survivor Series, guys,
and Survivor series has massive implications to WrestleMania because after Survivor series, you're
talking about December, which is a throwaway month usually, and after Survivor series
are already like rumble rumble, rumble, rumble rumble. So we're only a
couple of months away from getting deep into the Rumble Rumble conversation. Again,
It's only September three. I understand that we've got four months until the Rumble,
but it's not too early and there's a lot of speculation out there.
And right now, I believe I looked at the latest odds of the Rumble
and I think La Knight is a heavy favorite right now to win it all,
and and rightfully so, right now, if you had the Royal Rumble
this coming week, is there another guy on the roster that you would have
win that rumble? I can't name another right now. La Knight is on
fire, and sure he's the hot hand, but he's not a new guy.
He knows what he's doing. He's a veteran of the business. Not
in WW of course, he hasn't been in WW as long as a lot
of guys, but as a in the wrestling world, he's been around the
horn. He's a forty year old guy. He's been around the horn in
life and in pro wrestling. He knows who he is. He's a well
spoken promo and let me just say this about the La Night too and John
Cena. People want to see him battle on the mic. I don't why,
Well, there's a certain one that I remember. Everyone's saying, well,
when Austin Theory gets on the mica with John c he'll be able to
go to toe to toe and nope, John Cena completely emasculated him and actually
hurt Austin Theory and even losing to Austin Theory WrestleMania. Of course, we
know Austin Theory went off the deep end in his career, even remaining as
US champion. So my point is, though that La Night versus John Cena,
it's a mismatch because John Cena on the mic, when he gets into
serious mode and puts all the comedy crap aside, he is the best of
the best. He can go toe to toe and stomp anyone. He's that
good. So I don't know if I want to see La Night versus John
Cen on the mic unless it's heavily controlled, because I don't want his momentum
to be stifled because John seen is one of his massive strengths is on the
microphone when he gets serious. We've seen the damage he can do La Night.
He could have some couple of quick hits and quims or equips and and
be you know, witty on the mic, John Cena has depth range delivery
experience. I would be a little concerned if you want to see that,
Just like when we all thought, look all, when the Rock comes back
and faces John Cena on the mic in twenty eleven, he's going to destroy
John Cena. Yeah, that didn't happen. It was a complete opposite.
John Cena demolished Rock on the mic generally, not that The Rock didn't have
ammunition firing back, but it was it was a you know, if you're
just talking about matchups on the mic, John Cena one hands down. The
Rock had to write stuff on his arm. Remember that whole deal to cut
a promo. Uh, you know, he's often via satellite and all that.
So my point is be careful what you wish for. I don't know
if I want to see it. You know, I don't mind the match.
But the other thing, even with the match is people love John Cena.
He just returned. Do you really want to see Ellaened go against John
Cena and put the crowd's loyalty to the test that much that they're going to
have to boo a guy that that you know, is a Hall of Famer
for La Knight. It's it's to me right now, it's it's not where
you want to go with Alla Knight. It's not where you want to go.
You do not want to put put them put them up against John Cena
for multiple reasons. So anyway, all right, well, I think that
does it for me on this payback review. If you guys want to join
us on Patreon, I know a lot of you have over the last several
days for payback and being able to get into the discord server and all that,
which I'm glad you guys have. I have not gotten a chance to
get in there, but giving shout outs as I do to all of our
newest patrons, we have Gallia Galia a welcome. I think if you're the
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hosting with me a couple of weeks ago, and it was joy to have
you on. If that's the same Galley, I don't know who too many
galley is, so i'd imagine it's you. So welcome, and let's see,
I want to make sure I didn't miss anybody else that John. I
think John I already mentioned you, but if I didn't, thank you brother
John. I so guys welcome and if you guys want to join these men
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tomorrow night with Anthony DeMarco to cover Payback and get his thoughts and ideas moving
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